MIAMI – An adventurer is in South Florida to plan a jet ski trip to Cuba.
Every year since 1982, Alvaro de Marichalar has taken a month or two off for a jet skiing expedition.
On Tuesday in Coconut Grove, Marichalar prepared his jet ski for the trip. He packed energy bars, sunscreen, travel documents, a survival kit, and flares.
Marichalar plans to stay overnight in Key West, then travel to Havana Wednesday morning. He expects to arrive at the Hemingway Marina at 6 p.m.
Marichalar said he is recreating the journey made by Juan Ponce de Leon.
"He would arrive on the 3rd of April, 1513," he said. "That's the reason, my dream, was arriving on the 3rd of April, 2013. So I did following the exact route he did five centuries ago. I depart from San Juan, Puerto Rico, all the way to the Dominican Republic and I went up to Turks and Caicos behind St. Augustine."
Money raised by the trip will go to Haiti Stands on Its Feet, a charity that sends Puerto Rican doctors to Haiti to assist with earthquake relief.